It was the question de jour on an 8th Infantry Division Veterans FBP on Feb 2..
I responded:
Funny I should write that... given how this is turning out:
I lay the blame for this squarely on the head of Obama.
Who can blame the Afghan captain when he knows that his American "allies" are going to tuck tail and run because we've got an election coming up, and what's a hundred thousand or so Afghan deaths compared to getting re-elected? We've set these people up EXACTLY Like it was Saigon in '72. The similarities are eerie.
Yes, we're spilling our blood. Likely nothing close to the amount our "allies" are spilling, but how do we instill heart... and courage... and dedication... when we throw all of that... AND our friends... under the bus of political expediency?
It's one thing to leave because the situation that WE brought about has stabilized. Because we've enabled a decent and honorable government, truly inculcated with democracy and democratic ideals to take hold and thrive... setting the example for a nation of people who know better... showing them the way.
It's quite another to leave as a political election ploy, leaving a corrupt regime behind who is much more into accommodation and plunder and raping both the American tax payer AND the Afghan people for their own ends... ripping out the heart, once again, of those who befriended us when we told them we'd stay for the long run because we had their backs.
When we leave, there will be a slaughter. There will be a slaughter because the people of the region are infamous for having long memories... and we won't be there to do anything about it.... because there were many, many there who wanted to believe... and they were too stupid to research our history... a history of bailing on our "friends" and kowtowing to our enemies.
Much like the Kurds and a little poison gas.
The insurgents know, as I suspected they would, that if they can just hang on until this November.... they win it all.
Is it any wonder that slimeball mayor of New York is going to give the football team a parade.... but not the troops?
That's a snapshot of the American psyche. Everyone loves a winner.
Nobody likes a loser.
We've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Apparently, we didn't play the "Vietnam" game well enough the first time, so we're going to repeat the insanity.
And it's now time to come home... long since time... because we cannot want it more than the people in the country in question.
As a coach or a consultant, that's one of the first things you learn: you can have the plan... you can have the vision.... you can have the strategy... but you can't want it more than the client... or the team.... or the candidate.... or the country.
Bush screwed up. Obama screwed up even more.
And now, these people won't fight because it's "too dangerous."
Sadly, I can't blame them.
One Lieutenant Colonel sacrifices his career to tell us what he sees as the truth. And how many people in government... in the military or civilian side.... are willing to do that?
Clearly, not enough.
And I apologize to Sen. Harry Reid, who, before the Surge famously told the world we had already "lost the war."
He was right. I'm just sorry it took me so long to come to that realization.
I responded:
No. Unless the Chinese were invading, say, Oregon.
It's difficult to respond to this kind of question without appearing to be incendiary, but that is not my purpose here. It's my perspective in answer to a direct question.
The military has become one big social engineering experiment where the goals of defense, killing people and breaking things have long since fallen by the way side. I have no trust in our top leadership, and recent events have me concluding that our top commanders are not picked for their skill set as much as they're picked for their political views.
When West Point dis-invites a retired LTG (Boykin) who happened to be the Commander of Special Operations for several years from a prayer breakfast, I've got to wonder: what the hell are those clowns teaching our kids? What part of "Duty... Honor... County" played a role in that? With that kind of politically correct crap, why do we even NEED a West Point?
Plus, I have precisely zero faith in our Commander and Chief to put strategy ahead of politics, believing that he will do the correct political thing no matter how many of our bodies grease his treads to do it.
The slash and burn reductions in troops and funding, the non-strategic view of the abandonment of a two-front war capability in favor of push buttons... The DADT fiasco... the bumbling cowardice of our Iraq withdrawal and setting up the same kind of exit from Afghanistan...a military and government run by a group of people who never felt strongly enough about their country to be bothered to serve it in uniform... all of these things have caused me to lose faith that they would... and are... viewing the troops as anything but cannon fodder.
Let's remember: it wasn't that long ago that Shinseki was shilling the president's idea that our wounded should be required to pay for their own health care insurance.
Never forget.
Since you asked.
A US Army officer has accused the American military of painting a misleading picture of progress in the war in Afghanistan while glossing over the Kabul government's many failings.
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis deliberately broke ranks with the official portrayal of the war after spending a year in the country, issuing a grim assessment and accusing his superiors of covering up the harsh realities that plague the mission.
"What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by US military leaders about conditions on the ground," Davis wrote in an article published in Armed Forces Journal, a private newspaper not affiliated with the Pentagon.
"That would be dangerous.""Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level," he wrote under the headline, "Truth, Lies And Afghanistan: How military leaders have let us down."Local Afghan government officials are failing to serve the Afghan population and their security forces are reluctant to fight insurgents or are colluding with the Taliban, he wrote."How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding and behind an array of more than seven years of optimistic statements by US senior leaders in Afghanistan?" he said in his article.Davis has also reportedly shared his pessimistic view with some members of Congress and written a classified version of his article for the Defense Department, a highly unusual move that he expects will anger his commanders and short-circuit his professional career."I'm going to get nuked," he was quoted as saying by the New York Times.The Pentagon politely disagreed with Davis's portrayal of the war but stopped short of suggesting any disciplinary action."Lieutenant Colonel Davis is obviously entitled to his opinion," spokesman George Little told reporters, adding that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "has very strong confidence in his commanders in Afghanistan, as they provide assessments of what's happening on the ground in the war."The military's evaluation of the war effort is based on "rigorous analysis" from a myriad of sources and does not depend on one person's view, he said.Working with the US military's Rapid Equipping Force, Davis said he traveled 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) around Afghanistan and spoke with more than 250 soldiers during his 12-month deployment.His comments and anecdotes reflect opinions often expressed by American and coalition troops, who make no secret of their frustrations with Afghan security forces.Davis recounted a conversation with an Afghan police officer in eastern Afghanistan in Kunar province less than three hours after an insurgent attack.Through an interpreter, Davis asked the police captain how his forces usually responded to such an incident and if his squad would go after the insurgent fighters.The Afghan police officer gave him an incredulous look, laughed and said: "'No! We don't go after them,' he said. 'That would be dangerous!'"
I lay the blame for this squarely on the head of Obama.
Who can blame the Afghan captain when he knows that his American "allies" are going to tuck tail and run because we've got an election coming up, and what's a hundred thousand or so Afghan deaths compared to getting re-elected? We've set these people up EXACTLY Like it was Saigon in '72. The similarities are eerie.
Yes, we're spilling our blood. Likely nothing close to the amount our "allies" are spilling, but how do we instill heart... and courage... and dedication... when we throw all of that... AND our friends... under the bus of political expediency?
It's one thing to leave because the situation that WE brought about has stabilized. Because we've enabled a decent and honorable government, truly inculcated with democracy and democratic ideals to take hold and thrive... setting the example for a nation of people who know better... showing them the way.
It's quite another to leave as a political election ploy, leaving a corrupt regime behind who is much more into accommodation and plunder and raping both the American tax payer AND the Afghan people for their own ends... ripping out the heart, once again, of those who befriended us when we told them we'd stay for the long run because we had their backs.
When we leave, there will be a slaughter. There will be a slaughter because the people of the region are infamous for having long memories... and we won't be there to do anything about it.... because there were many, many there who wanted to believe... and they were too stupid to research our history... a history of bailing on our "friends" and kowtowing to our enemies.
Much like the Kurds and a little poison gas.
The insurgents know, as I suspected they would, that if they can just hang on until this November.... they win it all.
Is it any wonder that slimeball mayor of New York is going to give the football team a parade.... but not the troops?
That's a snapshot of the American psyche. Everyone loves a winner.
Nobody likes a loser.
We've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Apparently, we didn't play the "Vietnam" game well enough the first time, so we're going to repeat the insanity.
And it's now time to come home... long since time... because we cannot want it more than the people in the country in question.
As a coach or a consultant, that's one of the first things you learn: you can have the plan... you can have the vision.... you can have the strategy... but you can't want it more than the client... or the team.... or the candidate.... or the country.
Bush screwed up. Obama screwed up even more.
And now, these people won't fight because it's "too dangerous."
Sadly, I can't blame them.
One Lieutenant Colonel sacrifices his career to tell us what he sees as the truth. And how many people in government... in the military or civilian side.... are willing to do that?
Clearly, not enough.
And I apologize to Sen. Harry Reid, who, before the Surge famously told the world we had already "lost the war."
He was right. I'm just sorry it took me so long to come to that realization.
1 comment:
You said it: Afghanistan IS just like '72 Saigon! What the hell are we doing there?!
Stay out of foreign entanglements. America's interests can be better served from 30,000 ft.
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